Brenton Best, MHA, would run his own race

Labor faces losing a seat in state parliament if the man best placed to take retiring leader Bryan Green’s spot nominates for the recount.

Former long-time Braddon Labor MHA Brenton Best said on Friday if he nominated for the recount to fill Mr Green’s seat, it would be as “independent Labor”.

That would mean he would not be a Labor MP as such and would not necessarily vote with it.

It would leave the electorate without a Labor MHA for the first times since the modern system started in 1909.

“I would probably support the Labor Party in most things,” Mr Best said.

“I would not be bound by it.”

Mr Best said he was not yet sure if he would nominate for the recount.

He was Labor’s second best vote-getter in Braddon in 2014, behind Mr Green.

Another 2014 Labor candidate, Shane Broad, would be a chance in a recount if he and Mr Best nominated, and most likely to take the seat if he nominated and Mr Best did not.

Mr Best, who lost his seat in the 2014 Liberal landslide in Braddon, was not impressed by how Labor had performed under Mr Green.

“I think Labor’s lost its way,” he said.

“It used to be the party of opportunity and fairness .

“Not any more.”

He suggested there had been a sense of drift under Mr Green since 2014, and said it contrasted poorly with the 1990s when former Labor premier Michael Field led strong policy development in opposition which eventually aided Labor’s 1998 election win under Jim Bacon.

“The work rate, in comparison, Michael Field put in was massive, very strategic,” Mr Best said.

“There was definitely a sense the Tasmanian community was important.

“I think that’s been a little lost over the last three years.

“It started to happen in the last term of government with the Greens and it hasn’t really recovered in the last few years.”

He said Labor might improve under new Leader Rebecca White.

“There was not a lot of work to develop policy and turn things around,” he said.

“There would be an opportunity with Rebecca to build that confidence again, develop meaningful policies and tackle the issues people want resolved.”

He said the North-West was not doing as well as it could be, and government could play a much more useful role.

Mr Best runs an equipment hire business at Shearwater.

”I thought I’d better do something after being in government with the Greens, so I sell chainsaws,” he said.

In the 2014 election, Mr Green polled 6606 first preference votes, and Mr Best 3648.